 Saint Etienne Daho I bought this disc in 1995 during a phase where I was buying virtually no CDs, and I'm glad I did, because I would have been kicking myself ever since, had I not. I never saw it again, and only recently have found it on the Internet (steeply priced of course). It's easily one of my favorite things Saint Etienne has done, a collaboration with Frence pop star Etienne Daho that could only have been called Saint Etienne Daho. Five tracks brilliantly blending Saint Etienne's French pop-inspired British synth pop with Daho's French pop, uh pop style, Reserection is pure class thorugh and through. The big draw is "Accident (Week-End a Rome)," otherwise known as "He's On the Phone," in its original, far superior incarnation (the poppy remake is great, but this is sublime). (Sublime the group, on the other hand, is not particularly sublime.) It's probably the highest point Ms. Cracknell and Company have yet reached – pure pop bliss, not to sound like an overexcited British music journalist. Almost as good is "X Amours," featuring Daho's supremely cool vocal over a bed of reverby guitars that sounds almost like Daniel Lanois stepped in to produce that one. It's another classic, even though Daho sings in that gibberish language invented by Aznavour. "English Spoken Here," buddy! (Oh, my "Check Wit" light just came on – better take the old brain in for a tune up.) The remaining tracks are not quite as perfect but in context, flesh out the EP nicely. "Reserection" is a short orchestral cut with Daho's spoken vocal, "Jungle Pulse" is slightly arbitrary dance club fodder, "Le Baiser Francais" is like a Saint Etienne b-side sung by a man, in French. All the cuts are good, and it's one of those EP's that makes you wish they had made a whole album, though certainly that album is better left in the theoretical realm. Extra points for the pure sarcasm of the front cover, featuring a bloodied Daho, panpipe knocked from his hands, being comforted by an angel/whore Cracknell, while Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley look on, hidden in the bushes. I can't say I ever understand what this band is up to, but I almost always love it.
Review by Uptown Brown |